


and I'll never let go of you now (some things are not worth changing)

by pinkbelle



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU from canon, Gen, basically skyeward being adorable, set 1x20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 10:45:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3246806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkbelle/pseuds/pinkbelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ignoring THAT scene in 1x20, Skye and Coulson try and escape from the plane when things don't go as planned, and there appears to be more behind Ward's HYDRA cover than there seems...basically, how things could have gone had Ward been a triple agent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and I'll never let go of you now (some things are not worth changing)

**Author's Note:**

> Another move over of the archives to AO3! First of all, I’d like to apologize if this seems a little disjointed with all of the breaks in between sections. I kind of like how it turned out, but I found it hard to get through for some reason. For the sake of this story we’re pretending that THAT scene in 1x20 never happened – Skye and Ward never had their verbal confrontation on the plane, but it starts from Coulson and Skye trying to escape. The title comes from the Charlie Simpson song 'Down Down Down', and if you haven't heard that EP before I cannot recommend it enough.

“Get in the car!”

Coulson shouted the order at Skye over the sound of gunfire coming from both his own weapon as well as Ward’s. Feeling the wind blowing her hair over her face, Skye blindly stumbled towards Lola to feel for the handle, her heart pounding as she tried not to feel the thousand emotions coursing through her at that moment – ignoring the totally consuming heartbreak she felt, the betrayal, the guilt, the abandonment, the relief at Coulson’s presence, the devastation. Pushing it all down, she finally grabbed on to what felt like a handle only to hear a thud from in front of her. Looking up and shoving her hair out of her eyes, she saw Deathlok coming towards her with a dead look in his eyes – as much as she hoped, she knew Mike Peterson was all but dead, he wasn’t the one controlling this anymore. 

“Mike,” she pleaded anyway, desperation filling her tone, “Mike you don’t have to do this, we can help you, please!” 

Her cries fell on deaf ears as he continued towards her, pushing her further back. It wasn’t until she felt half of her foot lose a grip on any kind of surface that she remembered something – she wasn’t on the ground. She was in a plane, mid-air, and it was the shock of this more than the fear that forced the scream out of her mouth as she fell back, hearing Coulson shouting her name after her. 

 

…

 

Ward was fighting a losing battle. He knew he was. He was exhausted – having gone to Fury before his recruitment to Coulson’s team about Garrett’s plans had resulted in the SHIELD director giving him the chance to help through a triple agency operation, and while he was giving the high-ups still willing to work for the now disbanded organisation key pieces of information that were helping to bring Hydra down he was wiped out. 

Here he was, trying not to give away his position to Skye and Coulson despite how much he wanted them to know he hadn’t turned on them, subtly aiming his shots at empty spaces and occasionally in Mike’s direction to ensure neither of his team mates would be hit. He knew he would have to tell them eventually – he knew Garrett had some kind of plan he wasn’t telling him about, he just had to stick around to figure out what his endgame was and then he could help SHIELD bring him down and return to the people he had grown to care about. The girl he had grown to love. The hurt that had been in her eyes when she told him she knew had almost made him through the entire operation out of the window, nothing was worth her hurting, but he had to admit that her tipping off the police and trying to get him arrested to get away was a solid plan he was proud of – one of the many qualities he loved about Skye was that it seemed like there was anything that could take her down and keep her there, she was always fighting to get back up and keep going. 

Moving down the metal staircase into the main area of the cargo bay, Ward ducked a couple of Coulson’s shots as he fired some of his own in return, mentally wincing as one hit Lola. He knew that when all of this was over that would probably be the main grudge Coulson held. 

“Mike, Mike you don’t have to do this, we can help you, please!”

Grant looked up at the sound of her voice straining to be heard over the gunfire and the wind. Seeing the look of fear on her face in being cornered by Deathlok, he raised his gun to point at the back of the man, knowing that if he was being ordered to kill her her pleas would do nothing to stop it. At the sight of him aiming his weapon in the direction of the two Coulson returned by aiming his own at Ward, but when he followed the direction in which the other man was aiming he lowered his again, confusion filling his expression.

However, before either agent could do anything more Skye’s scream pierced the air as she lost her footing on the metal ramp and fell over the edge.

“Skye!” Coulson yelled, hesitating for a second in shock before sprinting into action and grabbing a parachute to follow the girl. Before he could even begin to put the pack on, though, he saw another figure jumping off out of the plane, pack in hand – Grant Ward. 

 

…

 

As soon as Skye stepped over the edge, Ward was in motion, grabbing a parachute from the side and throwing himself out of the BUS before putting it on, not a thought in his head other than saving her. Hit with the weirdest sense of déjà vu – because honestly, what were the chances that he’d end up in this very situation twice, the only change being the girl falling out of the plane – he pulled the straps of the pack over his shoulders and straightened himself out to increase his velocity as he tried to catch up with Skye. Eyes straining against the wind, he finally found himself getting closer and closer to her, and thankfully the shock of falling was enough so that she didn’t struggle against him when he brought her into an iron grip. Pulling her into him, her chest against his, he wrapped his arms tightly around as she buried her head in his shoulder while he pulled the chute. Their falling slowed by the fabric, the two continued down for several minutes as Ward noted the green field beneath them, glad that this wasn’t a repeat of last time and he wouldn’t have to navigate any more water with a panicking passenger. 

Finally Grant’s feet met the ground, and the sudden change from being airborne to being on the ground brought the two down, Skye landing on top off Ward as he shifted his position to take the brunt of the fall. 

“Skye?” he asked cautiously, lifting a hand to push hair out of her face, “are you alright?”

His girl starred back at him for a moment, eyes wide in shock and seemingly unable to process what had just happened, before her gaze shifted and she looked directly at him. Once she realised where she was and who she was with, he saw the gears turning in her head as she scrambled off of him. Pushing herself up off the ground she quickly moved backwards so that there were several feet between the two of them.

“Why did you do that?” she demanded, and he was impressed at how strong her voice was in spite of everything, not a single shake or break to be heard. 

Standing up slowly so as not to scare her, Grant pushed the straps off of his shoulders and let the pack fall to the ground on top of the parachute. 

“Because I wasn’t going to let you die, Skye,” he stated simply, offering a half smile that earned him a furrowed brow in response.

Skye shook her head, lifting her hands to her temple. “No, no,” she mumbled, “you can’t do this to me again, stop saying things like this, it’s not fair.”

Frowning, Ward slowly took a step towards her, his hands held up in surrender.

“Skye,” he repeated her name again, he’d never admit it but he loved saying it, just as she’d never admit she loved the way he made it sound. 

Looking up at him, Skye took in the blunt and open honesty in his eyes and he completely non-aggressive stance he was standing in. Maintaining her silence, she waited for him to speak again, relaxing her own position slightly as she crossed her arms across her chest. 

Grant sighed. “I lied to you.”

“You don’t say.”

Shaking his head, he met her gaze. “No, I mean I lied to you about this – I’m not Hydra. Skye, I’ve been working for Fury.”

 

…

 

The silence in the car was deafening, and Grant couldn’t help but cast a glance at the other people in the vehicle with him. Fitz, May and Simmons had come in the SUV to pick up Skye, able to get the coordinates from the trackers a paranoid Coulson had forced them all to wear after Ward’s ‘betrayal’, and it was only when Grant explained himself held at gunpoint that he was permitted to get in.

Fitz had been smiling ever since Grant had revealed he was a triple agent, working not for Garrett but for SHIELD, and he kept turning around in his seat to give him a comforting look, the excitement and relief radiating out of him. If there was one person he had dreaded hurting in all of this other than Skye it was the young scientist, and seeing the faith the younger man had in him was overwhelming and, if nothing else, solid physical proof that he had picked the right side all those months ago when he joined the team. 

Jemma, sat beside Fitz in the middle row of seats, held a tense posture as she kept her eyes on Skye in the passenger seat. Grant knew the two girls were extremely close and that when it had seemed like he’d betrayed the hacker he’d lost the strong trust Jemma had held in him. Even though she knew the truth now, he understood that the pain that had still been inflicted not only on Skye but Fitz and the rest of the team but his inability to share his mission meant it would be a while before he had the same kind of relationship he had had with her before. 

May was another story entirely. When she had seen the shock on Skye’s face and the fact that Ward was armed - even though his weapon was holstered and hadn’t been touched – she had marched to stand in front of the younger girl and pointed her gun straight at his head without question. When he had finished his story, without a word she put a hand on Skye’s back and led her to the car, helping her into the passenger front seat before getting in to the driver’s seat herself, not saying a thing to anyone, let alone acknowledging Ward’s presence. 

Taking a deep breath, Ward braced himself. 

“Fitz,” he said quietly, trying to press down the fear of the very likely possibility of Melinda May shooting him for speaking.

However, Fitz turned around immediately, eyes wide. 

“Yeah, Ward?” he asked eagerly.

Smiling in spite of himself at the other man, he continued. “Skye has a small cut on the side of her neck, I think maybe she hit her head when we hit the ground though so when it gets cleaned out you should check her for a concussion.”

At the mention of her name he saw Skye turn slightly in her seat, just enough to meet his eyes. Bracing himself for a cold look and a rejection, she instead did the unexpected, although at this point he realised he had never been able to predict that girl – she smiled at him. It was a small smile, nothing like the ones that used to make her eyes sparkle whenever she called him Robot or laughed at something Fitzsimmons did or said, but it was a step, and he was going to take it.

 

…

 

2 YEARS LATER

“I can’t believe you thought I’d shoot you!”

“I can’t believe you still think I’d jump out of a plane on purpose!”

Sitting in the warm New York summer light coming in through their living room window, Skye was laying back across the couch while Grant sat at the other end, her feet in his lap. Shaking his head, he raised an eyebrow at the girl at the other end of the couch.

“That was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done,” he said, his tone amused despite the blunt words.

Skye gave him a smirk. “Oh yeah? What about when we were in Cuba and we-“

Pushing himself forward so that he was hovering over her, Grant cut her off with a kiss. Putting an arm underneath her, he moved so that she was now over the top of him and he was beneath her. She sat back on her legs, knees either side of his chest.

“You’re right,” he grinned back at her, “that was stupider, but a lot more fun.”

She threw her head back and laughed, and Grant once again found himself looking at her in wonder. How the hell had everything gone from how it had been, the arguments and the screaming at each other and the fighting after he had told them what he had done, to the sheer domestic bliss he was in now with the girl he loved more than anything in the world? It had taken them a while to get there, that was without question, but when they had it was like everything else ceased to matter. 

Grant was pulled from his thoughts by a hand pushing gently through his hair. Moving his arms from Skye’s hips he lifted himself up to meet her lips.

“I love you, you know,” he murmured against them before kissing her. It was soft and gentle, and when he pulled back slightly he could feel her smiling.

“I hope so,” she replied, taking one of his hands and placing it on the small bump underneath her shirt. “You’re in this one for the long-haul, mister.”

And he knew that he would never have it any other way. There were many regrets he had in his life, but the girl he jumped out of a plane for would never be one of them.


End file.
